One: Nightmares

A tall and well-built guy wearing ripped with stained blood clothes showing his countless wounds was blowing out from a massive blow coming from his enemy.

"Aargh!" He groaned in pain as he landed on the ground. His blue blood ran down his forehead that covering his face.

"You can't beat me, Jerk!" The witch, his enemy, laugh and licks the blood on her lips. The woman has tons of wounds and covered with her blood like him.

He snickered and tried to stand up. He failed at his first attempt to stand however, he succeeded on his second attempt.

"Hmm... You still have the energy to stand up. Just give up and hand me back my black diamond!" With her limping legs, she headed in his direction.

"This?" He raised the black diamond with his wounded left arm and then he tossed it into the air.

The witch rushed and flew to snatch the black diamond but she was not fast enough. The black diamond was in his hand already! "Damn it!" She cursed in disappointment.

He laughed with an evil tone as he transformed into a demon. A red shadow appeared and surrounded him and his demonic aura was getting stronger than usual. His eyes were like blazing fire.

The sunny weather became gloomy as the sky was covered by dark clouds.

His demonic aura was affecting the weather!

The witch hasn't expected that her enemy is stronger than she predicted. She stepped back and got ready for her next move.

"I have awakened the demon in him!" Realizing, she forgot that this guy in front of him has a demonic power that has been sleeping inside him and she awakened it. Why she didn't even think about it? Or maybe because she never thought that she will awake his demon.

"We better run for our lives!"

"He... The demon is finally awake!"

"Soon, this fight will come to an end."

The people around them who have been watching them fighting were shuddering while stepping back away from the fighting scene and their eyes were full of fear and panic. Some of them tried to find a safe place to hide and decided to witness the outcome of the fight and some of them ran away for their lives.

"Huh! Where's your confidence? Are you scared now?" Grinning, he lifted his face showing his demonic expression that can scare all the people who see his image.

The witch didn't talk and rushed towards him while enchanting a spell through gestures. As she reached him out, she snapped her fingers. He was suddenly pushed by the air against the big tree and his stomach was jabbed by the tree's branch.

"You talk too much!" The witch's nail grew longer and stabbed it in his chest.

But the guy didn't struggle and there's no trace of pain. He was just looking at her expressionless with his cold dimmed eyes yet still blazing. His red shadow became bigger.

"I'm not gonna let you have the black diamond to destroy the world!"

"What-"

Before the witch could finish her words, he summoned a flaming sword, and then a lightning bolt coming from his sword strikes in her chest. "Farewell, woman!" He used all his strength to push the sword in her chest. Her dark blood splashed onto him as she started losing her strength and her breath.

"The lively tree will become lifeless. As the tree will regain its leaves and flowers, I shall regain mine. A freesia appears and conquers the world. Its delicate fragrance shall be the nemesis. You shall taste my wrath." She gained all her strength and endured her pain. She stands beside the big tree and she wounded her palm. Her black blood dripped and wiped it on the tree and then she kissed it. Her blood and her kiss will seal the curse she made.

"Always remember me!" She sat down and leaned against the tree. Her happy memories of her love appeared in her thoughts. "Frost." She smiled as she slowly closes her eyes.

"No!" As she woke up, she was panting and trying to catch her breath with her tears flows down her cheeks. She pressed her chest as she can feel that something was jabbed in that she can't explain.

"Again?" She was soaking with her cold sweats. She took a deep breath and tried to calm herself.

Since they move in two weeks ago, she was having trouble sleeping. She has always been dreaming of the same dream. Her dreams were so clear like water as if it was real that it really happened.  She can feel all the suffers and pain but she's not hurt anywhere.

In two weeks, her dreams have been creeping the hell out of her.

"This house is cursed!" She marched into her bathrooms and washed her face. "Damn it! I wanna go back home!"

"Xylene, it's my first day of school! You have to send me to school. What are you doing?" An eight-year-old boy wearing a school uniform walked into her room. His voice was sad and there's no hint of excitement in his expression at all. He's not ready yet to enter his new school.

"What?!" Oh, shoot! Xylene forgot that her younger brother, Yno, has been enrolled in the school nearby of their neighbourhood and she needs to send him. She rushed to change her clothes and took Yno with her.

"Did you forget something?" Yno asked Xylene when she stopped walking. Xylene was stiffed and not talking. Yno checked her older sister that was staring at the big tree ten meters away from their house.

"Xylene?" He called her while pulling her shirt. He was worried that there's something wrong with his sister.

"This tree."

"Huh? What are you talking about, Xylene?" Yno asked and then looked at the tree. "What's with this tree?"

"I'm sure this is the one!" She exclaimed when she remembered the big tree in her dreams. She compared the tree in front of her and the tree in her dreams. The features of the tree were the same tree in her dreams. She was sure of it! But how come that the tree is the same in her dreams? Is she dreaming again?

"Uhm.. Xylene?" Yno pulled her sister away from the tree when he saw a black shadow that surrounding the tree. It was terrifying.

"Come back to me.. Come, my lady!" A sound of a man with a hoarse voice coming from the tree.

The sudden billowing of air made them chill down their spine.

"What the heck?" Xylene carried her younger brother and ran away as fast as she could. They were both terrified and thought that they encountered a ghost.

"What's going on?" Yno asked with fear in his voice. He hugged his sister so tight. His hands were trembling and his throat dried. "Sister." His voice faltered.

"Don't worry, baby. Everything will be fine." Xylene tried to calm her younger brother and herself as well.

"What the hell was that? This place is freaking scary!" She murmured.

Instead of going to school, they headed back to their house and locked all the doors, and closed all the windows for their safety. Maybe it a human being. Whether it is a ghost or a human, they better be safe.

"I wanna go back home." Yno started to cry in Xylene's embrace.

"Shhh. I know." Xylene kissed his forehead and rubbed his back softly. "Stop crying. Remember that big boy don't cry."

It was already mid-afternoon when the siblings calmed down and their grandparents get back home from their farm. And everything came back to normal and the siblings never mentioned what happened earlier.

Their parents are facing some problems in their company and they don't have time to take care of them so they decided to send their children to the unfrequented province where Mrs. Grims' parents live. Since the siblings move in, they've been missing their home and their parents. They were not that close also with their grandparents. Besides, they have only met them twice when their grandparents visited them.

"Yno, did you ditch your class?" Their grandmother, Hyena, asked.

Yno didn't respond and he just bowed his head to avoid his grandmother's eyes. He doesn't know what to say though. If they will say the truth, he knows for sure that they wouldn't believe them and they will just make fun of them or they will send them into a mental hospital. They are not crazy!

Xylene tapped his back and gave him a warm embrace. "Yno was not feeling well this morning so I decided not to send him to school." Xylene lied.

Their grandparents became worried as they looked at Yno. Hyena, their grandmother, walked close to them and touched Yno's forehead. "Hmm. You don't have a fever." She said in relief knowing that her grandson is feeling well.

"Uh.. Don't worry, he is okay now. He took his medicines and he is in good condition now. He can go to school tomorrow." Xylene smiled with assurance.

After having dinner, they all went to their rooms to have a rest.

"Xylene?" Yno knocked on Xylene's door from outside and opened it.

"What's wrong, Yno?" Xylene asked as Yno appeared inside carrying his pillows and blanket.

"I'm scared. Can I sleep here?"

Xylene gave him a sweet smile. She knelt and opened her hands. "Come!"

Yno ran towards her and met her arms and hugged her. "Don't worry, Yno. Big sister will always be by your side."

The next morning, Xylene woke up by Yno. As usual, she had the same dream again but more scenes were added.

"Are you alright? It seems that you are having a nightmare." Yno was so worried by looking at her sister panting and soaking in a cold sweat.

Xylene nodded while wiping her sweat with her trembling hands.

"Are you sure you okay? You look so pale." Yno said with a sweet tone and then caressed Xylene's face.

"Big sis is probably scared of her nightmare." Yno thought. He sighed and hugged his sister. "Everything will be fine, sis!"

Xylene smiled and hugged him back. Yno has always been a sweet and good younger brother to Xylene. She was lucky enough to have him and she couldn't ask for more. She loves him too much that she will do everything to protect him.

It was a sunny Saturday, and they planned to have a picnic under the big tree.

The big tree.

The siblings hesitated to go there at first, but they don't want their grandparents to be upset, and maybe that incident won't happen again.

They were having fun grilling barbecues and enjoying talking to each other. The siblings were sharing their interesting stories about their trips overseas and their lives back home.

"We should all go there next time with mom and dad! It would be very fun!" Yno encouraging their grandparents to travel along with them in a coastal country with excitement in his voice.

Before the old couple answer Yno, suddenly a strong cold wind came with the voice of a crying woman.

"Not again!" Their grandpa, Leon, stood up. His eyes darkened and his facial expression became serious.

Hyena trembled. "It's coming back again." She almost cried out and pulled her grandchildren closer to her.

"Xylene, it's happening again." Yno burst into tears as he saw the black shadow came out from the tree.

Xylene stiffened. She couldn't move her body and couldn't talk. "Argh! What's going on with me? Why?" She was having a hard time trying to move. Her words were stuck in her mouth.

"Xylene?" Yno called her older sister. What's going on with her? Her face became pale and her eyes blue eyes became darker than black.

"Xylene!" Yno called her again and he let go of his grandmother's hug. "Xylene! Xylene! Xylene!" There is really something wrong with her!

The old couple was shocked. "Darn! Not Xylene!"

"Leon, please don't tell me it's not happening again!" Hyena cried and tried to shake Xylene's shoulders. "Xylene, wake up! You must fight it!" Hyena doesn't want to repeat what happened many years ago.

"Help me, please!" Xylene cried in her heart. She was scared. Very very scared.

"Come, Xylene! Come!" She heard a soft voice coming from somewhere.

"Who are you?" She asked as the surroundings became black and, Yno and her grandparents were nowhere to be found.

She trembled with fear and fell to the ground. She can move!

She ran around and looked for Yno and her grandparents. "Yno! Nana! Dada!" The surrounding was too dark and hard to see.

A white shadow with a woman figure appeared in front of her. "Come with me!"

"No!" She shouted and stepped back away from the shadow. "Who are you?"

"I am you and you are me!" The voice started to cackle.

The cackle made her ears sore and felt dizzy.

"Xylene! No!"

Hearing Yno's cry, Xylene was swallowed by darkness as she lost consciousness.